Spring shank for shoes



June 21, 1938. RE||T Y ET AL 2,121,261

SPRING SHANK FOR SHOES Filed Dec. 5, 1935 INVENTORS ATTORNEYS Patented June-21, 1938 UNITED STATES SPRING SHANK FOR SHOES George A. Reily and Jo hn G. N ovak, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application December 5, 1935, Serial No. 52,934

4 Claims. (Cl. 36--76) This invention relates to improvements in spring shanks for shoes. Y

It is the object of the invention to provide a shoe shank which will be truly yieldable to a pronounced degree, whereby to permanently incorporate in the shoe a means of exercising. the arch of the wearers foot whereby to prevent and to correct flat feet and to provide arch support during the interval of correction.

More specifically, it is. our purpose to provide a shoe with a composite elastic arch supporting shank comprised of two pieces of spring metal bridging the gap between the heel and ball portions of the shoe and resiliently spaced apart to provide a yielding support for the insole and the wearers arch.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view of a shoe embodying this invention and illustrated partially in bottom plan View and partially broken away. to expose our improved spring shank stiffener.

Figure 2 is a view in perspective on an enlarged scale showing separately a spring shank stiffener embodying our invention.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

Our improved shoe is of generally conventional construction with the exception of the spring shank stiffener and its relation to the shoe as hereinafter disclosed. The shoe selected to illustrate the invention is a conventional Goodyear welt type having an outsole 3, a heel 4, a welt 5 connected at the inseam 6 to the insole 1.

Where the opposite sides of the inseam ridge curve convexly toward each other at the shank portion of the shoe, we insert our improved spring shank stiffener, of which only the lower plate 8 appears in Fig. 1. The remaining space between the outsole and the insole is filled in any usual or desired manner by elastic or composition cushions 9.

It will be observed from, Fig. 1 that the spring shank stiffener plate 8 spans the space between traneous fastening means. The plate is simply laid within the inseam portions of a shoe to which it is properly fitted, and the outsole is applied in the usual manner, the stiffener being thereby firmly anchored in the desired position. 5

The stiffener preferably takes the form indicated in Fig. 2. The plate 8 is preferably slightly arched and adjacent one end thereof a similar plate In is fastened thereto by rivets II or any other convenient means, such as welding. That 10 portion of plate l8 which is fastened to plate 8 rests thereon in such a way that the remainder of plate I8 is supported free of plate 8 except when under load. The plate ID has a convexity greater than that of plate 8, and its end portion 15 I2 is normally entirely free of plate 8 when unloaded. Thus the resilience of plate I0 of itself is sufficient to provide elastically yieldable support for the arch of the wearers foot.

The area of plate In in contact with plate 8 is, however, inadequate to provide any great strength, and accordingly we prefer to supplement the elasticity of plate Ill to provide additional support for the wearers foot by means of the tongues or fingers I5, any number of which may 25 be used as desired, and which are preferably formed integrally out of plate I I] and bent downwardly to a position of engagement with plate 8, where they have a sliding bearing to supplement greatly the resilient support provided by plate 30 I8 alone. vThe ends of the tongues or fingers l5 may be slightly recurvant as indicated at 16 to provide a substantial bearing surface upon plate 8 and to prevent plate 8 from being out or gouged. 35

The use of highly resilient spring shank stiffeners made in accordance with this invention will immediately increase the comfort of the wearer of the shoe as compared with the comfort possible in the use of similar shoes which do 40 not incorporate the invention. In addition to providing comfort in the current use of the shoe, however, the invention plays an important function in exercising in a natural manner the muscles and tendons of the wearers foot which are allowed to move and yield in the normal use of the shoe, thereby strengthening them. and correcting arch difiiculties.

When the outsole is applied over the shank stiffener, the stiffener is ordinarily subjected to some slight measure of initial compression, but thismerely compensates for such loosening up as occurs in the use of the shoe, and experience has demonstrated that the stiffener will perform its function over the entire normal life of the shoe to accomplish the purposes of the invention without subjecting the shoe to undue wear or strain.

Since the objects of this invention are achieved by two plates or plate elements, one of which is highly resilient and the other of which provides a relatively continuous and nonyielding support, the shank stiffener as herein disclosed not only provides resilient yielding archsupport for the wearer, but also serves in the usual. manner to reinforce the shoe and protect it against breakdown. I

We claim:

1. A spring shank for shoes comprising the combination of a shank stiffener plateof relatively rigid stock formedupwardly convex, and

an arch supporting spring having its rear end in flat face contact with said plate and thence arching with greater convexity than said plate toward the forward end thereof, the forward end of the spring being free of the plate, means securing the rear end of the spring to the: rear 'end of the plate with sufficient rigidity so that the resilience of the spring contributes to the arch supporting function thereof independently of the contact of the forward end of the spring with the plate, and a spring tongue formed integrally from the spring and extending intermediate the ends thereof into sliding bearing contact with the plate to provide supplemental arch support.

2. In a shoe, the combination with an outsole and an insole having shank portions, of a combination shank stiffener and arch support incorporated between the outsole and the insole at the shank portions thereof, the shank stiffener comprising a metallic plate and the arch support comprising a second metallic plate of generally corresponding outline anchored at its rear end to said first mentioned plate and convexly arched thereabove with its free forward end curving toward said first'plate, said second plate having sufficient resilience to normally maintain its said free forward end above said first mentioned plate, at least one of said plates having a tongue intermediate its ends bent toward the other plate and provided with a reversely curved bearing portion in sliding engagement with the face of said other plate in a position to reinforce the arch support ing plate in a direction such as to tend to elevate its free end.

3. A shoe comprising the combination with an outsole and an insole, the outsole having a heel and a ball portion and an intervening shank, of a shank stiffening plate between the insole and outsole and having its rear end supported by said heel and its forward end extending substantially to said ball portion, and a flexible and resiliently yieldable arch supporting plate rigidly connected at its rear end to the rear end of the shank stiffening plate and arched convexly thereabove below the insole, the arch supporting plate having sufiicient resilience so that it tends to maintain its free end clear of the shank stiffening plate under load, and a pair of tongues formed downwardly from intermediate portions of the arch supporting plate at opposite sides thereof and extending toward the forward end of the shank'stiffening plate into bearing contact therewith, each of said tongues being resiliently yieldable in a direction to contribute substantially to the support of the free end and intermediate portions of the arch supporting plate.

4. A combination shoe, shank, stiffener, and arch supporting plate'comprising a pair of plates substantially corresponding in outline, each of said plates being concave at its sides and each being bowed upwardly, means connecting said plates rigidly together at corresponding ends, their other ends being free, the uppermost plate having more upward convexity than the first mentioned plate and having its free end curvilinearly approaching said first mentioned plate, at least one of said plates having a tongue bent toward the other plate at a. point spaced from the free end thereof and provided with a bearing portion in sliding engagement with the face of said other plate to assist in the support of said upper plate.

GEORGE A. REILY. JOHN G. NOVAK. 

